Nantes Metropolis

The Hôtel de Ville (French pronunciation: [otɛl də vil], City Hall) is a historic building in Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, western France. It stands on Rue de l'Hôtel de Ville.

Nantes (, US also , French: [nɑ̃t] (listen); Gallo: Naunnt or Nantt [nɑ̃(ː)t]; Breton: Naoned [ˈnãunət]) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, 50 km (31 mi) from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 320,732 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabitants (2020). With Saint-Nazaire, a seaport on the Loire estuary, Nantes forms one of the main north-western French metropolitan agglomerations. It is the administrative seat of the Loire-Atlantique department and the Pays de la Loire region, one of 18 regions of France. Nantes belongs historically and culturally to Brittany, a former duchy and province, and its omission from the modern administrative region of Brittany is controversial. Nantes was identified during classical antiquity as a port on the Loire. It was the seat of a bishopric at the end of the Roman era before it was conquered by the Bretons in 851. Although Nantes was the primary residence of the 15th-century dukes of Brittany, Rennes became the provincial capital after the 1532 union of Brittany and France. During the 17th century, after the establishment of the French colonial empire, Nantes gradually became the largest port in France and was responsible for nearly half of the 18th-century French Atlantic slave trade. The French Revolution resulted in an economic decline, but Nantes developed robust industries after 1850 (chiefly in shipbuilding and food processing). Deindustrialisation in the second half of the 20th century spurred the city to adopt a service economy. In 2020, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranked Nantes as a Gamma world city. It is the third-highest-ranking city in France, after Paris and Lyon. The Gamma category includes cities such as Algiers, Orlando, Porto, Turin and Leipzig. Nantes has been praised for its quality of life, and it received the European Green Capital Award in 2013. The European Commission noted the city's efforts to reduce air pollution and CO2 emissions, its high-quality and well-managed public transport system and its biodiversity, with 3,366 hectares (8,320 acres) of green space and several protected Natura 2000 areas.

The Battle of Nantes was a battle between Royalist and Republican French forces at Nantes on 29 June 1793 during the War in the Vendée. It consisted of the siege of that town, and was a Republican victory. Louis Marie Turreau wrote of it: The siege of Nantes is perhaps the most important military event of our revolution. Perhaps the destinies of the Republic [herself] were tied to the resistance of this town.

Nantes Cathedral, or the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul of Nantes (French: Cathédrale Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul de Nantes), is a Roman Catholic Gothic cathedral located in Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France. Construction began in 1434, on the site of a Romanesque cathedral, and took 457 years to finish in 1891. It has been listed since 1862 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

The tomb of Francis II, Duke of Brittany is a monument located in Nantes, in the Cathedral of St. Peter. The project was commissioned by Anne of Brittany, Queen of France, who was the daughter of Francis and his second wife Margaret of Foix, who is also depicted beside Francis. The tomb was originally located in the chapel of the Carmelites in Nantes. Francis II had wished that his body rest there, to join the remains of his first wife Margaret of Brittany. The tomb eventually received the body of Francis and both his wives, though only his second wife (Anne's mother) is depicted. It was executed in Carrara marble in the early sixteenth century by the sculptor Michel Colombe based on a design by the royal artist Jean Perréal. It is the first major work of art in the Renaissance style in Brittany and is considered a masterpiece of French sculpture.

The Château des ducs de Bretagne (English: Castle of the Dukes of Brittany) is a large castle located in the city of Nantes in the Loire-Atlantique département of France; it served as the centre of the historical province of Brittany until its separation in 1956. It is located on the right bank of the Loire, which formerly fed its ditches. It was the residence of the Dukes of Brittany between the 13th and 16th centuries, subsequently becoming the Breton residence of the French Monarchy. The castle has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1840. Today the castle houses the Nantes History Museum.

The Basilica of Saint Nicholas (French: Basilique Saint-Nicolas de Nantes) is a minor basilica in Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, historically in Brittany. The present church is a Gothic Revival structure built during the years 1844 to 1869 on the site of a mediaeval parish church largely rebuilt in the late 18th century. Because of the constrained site in the centre of the old city, the church is oriented north-south rather than the traditional east-west. The building was severely damaged in World War II in the Allied bombardment of 16 September 1943. Structural repairs were not completed until 1978. It was declared a minor basilica by Pope Leo XIII on 26 October 1882. The Gothic Revival furnishings were registered as a monument historique on 20 November 1985, the church itself on 6 November 1986.

Tour Bretagne (Brittany Tower in English) opened on November 18, 1976, at 17:00, is a 37-story skyscraper situated in downtown Nantes between a main thoroughfare, Cours des 50 Otages, and Place Bretagne (Brittany square). With a total height of 144 meters (472 feet), it dominates the skyline of the city of Nantes and is the third tallest building in France outside of Paris, after Tour Part-Dieu in Lyon and CMA CGM Tower in Marseilles. Built on the water tank, the antennas reach 25 metres (82 ft) above the top floor. Initiated by André Morice then Mayor of Nantes, the building was conceived by French architect Claude Devorsine in the 1960s. By the time of its completion in the 1970s, public aesthetics had changed and the building was an economic failure, remaining mostly empty for a long time. It later became used for government offices.

The cantons of Nantes are administrative divisions of the Loire-Atlantique department, in western France. Since the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015, the city of Nantes is subdivided into 7 cantons. Their seat is in Nantes.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Nantes (Latin: Dioecesis Nannetensis; French: Diocèse de Nantes; Breton: Eskopti Naoned) is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church in Nantes, France. The diocese consists of the department of Loire-Atlantique. It has existed since the 4th century. It is now suffragan of the Archdiocese of Rennes, Dol, and Saint-Malo, having previously been suffragan to the Archdiocese of Tours. Its see is Nantes Cathedral in the city of Nantes.

The Palais de la Bourse is a building on place du Commerce in Nantes, France, begun at the end of the 18th century and completed in the 19th century. It was rebuilt at the end of the 20th century to house a branch of Fnac.

The Passage Pommeraye is a small shopping arcade in central Nantes, France, named after its property developer, Louis Pommeraye. Construction started at the end of 1840 and was completed on 4 July 1843. The Passage Pommeraye is a passage between two streets, the rue Santeuil and rue de la Fosse, with one 9.40 m higher than the other. Midway, there is a flight of steps and the mall then continues on another floor. Two architects, Jean-Baptiste Buron and Hippolyte Durand Gasselin, contributed to its design, which is very elaborate and includes renaissance style sculptures. The Passage Pommeraye has been classified as a historic monument since 1976.